Where was I...

Oh yes thats right. 40%. Adverts.

What about all the magazines? Do they all have such enormous amounts of advertising to keep them going? And are any of them made out of recycled paper? I naturally assumed so but had no idea. And then, what about the contents, do any of them have any links or sponsors to any more ethical organisations or articles to read?

There I was lying on the mattress on the floor (you may be wondering about that, but quite simply the bed was too short for the man in my life. And he needs no encouragement to have more mad, frantic, very active dreams. Banging his head and trapping his feet in a strange bed are a BIG NO NO) and all these questions were charging around my head.

So, I flicked through the other magazines we had brought with us to see what else I could discover.

About an hour later, with a couple of bed sores, my very brief conclusion was that the bigger glossy fashion mags, and a mens magazine, all had at least 40% advertising, whilst the more specialist magazines, had significantly less advertising - about 25%. (This obviously was just my own conclusions from the mags that were strewn on the floor in front me.)

What a waste of trees, ink and time. Tell me, do people really, honestly rush out to the nearest shopping centre and buy something promoted in these adverts. I cannot remember one single time an advert like this had ever effected me. Surely they must or why are they there???

I was pleased to read that somewhere in the mag, the reader was encouraged to recycle (to be honest I thought that was a given) but, unless you were specifically looking for the recycling logo, you wouldn't ever know it was there.

Oh, and non of the mags were printed on 100% recycled paper but were approved by the Forestry people. Hmmmn. Why not?

A familiar feeling of my brain going into overdrive began to creep into my body. There we were, looking for a relaxing break. Get away from it all. Chill. Stop worrying about all the little things in life. You know how it is. And instead I was getting that niggling need to start a rant.

So what was I to do? Well, roll over, have a cup of tea and read my new advert free magazine seemed a great place to start. I was over the moon with it. It was half the weight for a start. And my reading pleasure wasn't interrupted by those bloody girls all sprayed gold and assuming very strange poses. But.....

Shame there weren't more articles about gorgeous clothes that had a few ethics. You know, no sweat shop labour and a guily conscience when you buy them. And well, funky designs using organic materials perhaps. How about funky designs using recycled materials?

Beauty products that were vastly expensive and very glamorous, but didn't have thousands of chemicals chucked in for good measure. Sexy shoes and bags made out of alternative products to those dead animals.

I am not saying a hippy chick, earth mother, ram it down your neck type preaching kind of magazine, but one which would raise consciousness and provide people like me with options.

Wouldn't that be cool? Well I thought so...